


Raise Your Glass To Freedom

by Ambrose



Series: Dare to Write Challenge [13]
Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-29 02:13:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8471626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambrose/pseuds/Ambrose
Summary: "They are wild and free and powerful and they do as they want, but in the end the best place is to lie next to your loved one in peace."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tveckling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/gifts).



Being the nephew of a prince, the son of a duke, it sometimes gave Mercutio an irrepressible sense of responsibility, and of failing to his duties. But when he was with his friends, roaming the streets and taunting Capulets or infiltrating balls he was already invited to in the first place, Mercutio felt like a god, he felt like he could do anything, achieve anything. The world was his, he could do anything, and no-one, nothing, could get to him. 

But not even that could beat the feeling he had when he was lying in bed with the two men he loved, after a very satisfying romp. He never felt so alive as then, and his playful fights on the streets with Tybalt, and his banter with Benvolio, were just a normal continuation of that. In these moments, he was free as he never could be when they were surrounded by others; free to admit to loving them, free from the social conventions that always bothered him even as he pretended to ignore them, even when he and the Montague cousins would go to a feast or get drunk in a tavern. 

There was something exhilarating in being able to be entirely yourself, to be your naked self (in more ways than one) with men who loved you back and whose eyes were not judging but accepting. To love such beautiful people, body and soul, and trust they love you back. Mercutio would not pretend that he always loved himself - Benvolio had pierced through his apparent cockiness long ago to find him broken and despising himself, but he'd been the one who'd helped put the pieces back together - but knowing he had them, that had meant a lot for him; that meant he was worthy of love. 

Lying next to Benvolio and Tybalt, away from everything, truly was the best feeling for Mercutio. They could stay there all morning, watching the sun rise behind the curtains and discussing philosophy or professing their love to one another in both words and deed, they could pretend nothing existed but this room, this instant, and that they were free, like gods, and everything would move around them, time would pass and the world would turn but they would remain untouched, full of life and youth and love; nothing would ever hurt them in this safe haven they created for themselves. 

 

It was perhaps fitting that Mercutio died lying in Benvolio's arms, and that after his death Tybalt was laid down next to him, a grotesque mirror held up to their life together, as everyone still thought they hated each other and cried for revenge. Benvolio alone knew that was not true, and he would never be afforded the relief of lying down next to them again, in their warm embrace; he could only burst in tears and fall onto cold graves as he lamented their loss, and he wished he could afford that eternal rest in their company, far from the world and its deadly touch.


End file.
